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OK, the final game brief:
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The campaign is to be based in the city of Calcutta, in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. The year is 1798.
Calcutta is a city expanding rapidly under the rule of the Honorable British East India Company, whom have made it their capital and headquarters in India. The British East India Company is Royal Chartered, joint-stock company who operate a full monopoly on trade between India and Britain, with delegated authority to act as a sovereign power on behalf of the British crown. Its main shareholders form a powerful lobby within the Houses of Parliament in London, and its private military and naval forces form one of the largest standing armies in the world. Truly the company is a global force, with the means to conquer whole nations by military, financial and political means.
The players will begin the game as employees of a small time Calcutta-based commercial venture known as the Bengal Bay Trade Company. Whilst 'œJohn Company' has the exclusive rights to the trade lanes with Britain, the Bengal Bay Trading Company is a 'œcountry trading' outfit that operates by shipping goods up and down the coasts, selling them on to East India Company in the major ports at a profit for subsequent hauling to Europe. The Bengal Bay Trade Company maintains a small but dedicated staff at its headquarters and warehouse in the busy Calcutta docklands, and relies on its small fleet of coastal Dhows for the movements of silk, spice, saltpeter, cotton, and indigo between ports.
The Bengal Bay Trading Company is the brainchild of one Col. Morris Hilton, a retired former officer of the Presidency of Bengal. He is mild mannered, eccentric, prone to drink and a true man of the 'œold school'. Despite striking out on his own, he is still a true 'œcompany man', and has many contacts within the higher echelons of the East India Company's ranks. This places him a position to negotiate the best prices and secure contracts that would otherwise be lost. It has also seen him out of trouble on more than one occasion, and he rests safe in the knowledge that he can occasionally rely on the local judiciaries to look the other way when he bends the rules.
This is the time of great Indian trade fortunes, everyone from the lowliest clerk to the governors council is out to amass wealth. A man must keep his wits about him to prosper despite the corruption, the intrigue, and shrewd local traders.
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Head over to the "Character Creation" thread to continue the discussion.